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On Becca’s Bookshelf // January Edition

February 12, 2015 at 2:03 pm

January was a wonderful, wonderful month. I am so thankful for January. It started off at home in Virginia with family, and then we came back to Coronado and really plunged into life here in a new way. I felt like a lot of friendships bloomed in January, and we celebrated Gil’s birthday and our 5th anniversary, and I made some new friends through this and this, and I did a couplecool things on the blog, and Coronado felt like home. Elliott’s schedule was also fairly light, and so we were together a lot as a family, which was especially sweet.

Why am I saying all this? Isn’t this post about books? Is it almost 10pm at night? Am I tired? Is there a glass of wine beside me?

Maybe…

So anyway, January came with some good reads. Well, ok, really just one, but all five were sweet and satisfying at the same time. Also… all fiction! (I’m remedying that in February by reading a massive tome on Hurricane Katrina and getting a seeeerious non-fiction fix.)

Here’s what went down in the reading department in January:

Delicious! by Ruth Riechl — After Garlic & Sapphires, I became a fan of Ruth Riechl, the former New York Times food critic. Delicious!is her work of fiction and seemed promising, even if I felt very confused by the first chapter… twice. (I couldn’t get into it, returned it to the library, checked it out again a month later, was still confused, pressed forward, eventually finished it.) The story revolves around the closure of a cooking magazine in NYC, and I enjoyed the emphasis on food and writing. There’s an Anne Shirley-ish heroine, a bit of romance, eccentric friendships, hidden libraries, and delicious cheese shops. However, too many aspects of the story felt unbelievable or saccharine. Overall, sweet and relaxing, but maybe too much so? — 3 stars

The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion — I loved The Rosie Project, a hilarious first-person account of a socially awkward genetics professor on a quest for true love. The Rosie Effect is its sequel, and I put it on hold the instant it became available at our library. But oh… the disappointment of a reader’s unrequited love. The book was scattered, painfully awkward, and much too long. Better to have left The Rosie Project without a sequel. — 2 stars

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin — I heard that this book was good for book lovers, so I picked it up at the library without knowing its premise. The story moves from believable to fantastical and back again, but it’s fun. A.J. Fikry is grumpy bookseller in a small, fictitious town off the coast of Cape Cod, but his dreary life changes abruptly one night when he finds an abandoned baby in his bookstore. Thus begins a journey of hope and restoration that is laced with good book references and nicely intertwined plot development. It’s well-crafted and ultimately satisfying. — 3.5 stars

Silver Bay by Jojo Moyes — Another Jojo book! (See my review of one of her previous novels here.) This is another of her earlier works, written before she exploded onto the international book scene with Me Before You and One Plus One. Just like The Ship of Brides, I found this book was too long, but this one is better crafted. The characters are easy to love, and the setting of a fading whale-watching town Australia has nostalgic appeal. The main character, Mike Dormer, is a flashy London developer who is commissioned to set up a beach resort in Silver Bay, but when he actually comes to know the inhabitants of the small town — and especially the salt-crusted Silver Bay Hotel — he begins to realize his work will destroy something fragile and precious in more ways than one. — 3 stars

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson — I’ve been meaning and wanting and trying to read this book for years now. Finally I ran out of books to read over Christmas and found this one in my parents’ house. It took me the whole month to read it — slowly, in spoonfuls, savoring and digesting — and I am so glad I stuck with it. People told me, “Nothing happens,” and they were right in some ways, but I found myself more fascinated with the innerworkings of minister John Ames’ struggle to forgive and to say goodbye than I expected. I also found out that Home and Lila, her more recent works, are written from the perspectives of the other two main characters in this story. What a fascinating idea! Have any of you read this or her others? — 4 stars

Of all these books, I’m most interested in what you all thought of Gilead. Have you read it? Do you want to? Did you ever try and set it aside, bored or disillusioned? Or was it the most perfect thing you’ve ever read? Spill the beans, por favor!

About Becca

I'm Becca: wife to Elliott and mother to three, soon to be four! We live in Charlottesville in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. Our last homes were San Diego & Italy. I write this blog to encourage & to remember. I'm glad you're here!

You must read Home! I read Gilead and said “okay. I see why I should like that, but I don’t really feel compelled to pick it up again.” I read Home and *loved* it, but I wouldn’t have liked it as much as I did without the background from Gilead. I haven’t heard Lila yet, but want to.

I felt just like you for so long! I thought once I got into it and the characters’ heads, it was easier to enjoy it. I also thought it was a good exercise in just sticking with something and finishing it, which is not always my strong point with books.

I tried to read Home recently (on my Kindle via Overdrive library) and gave up :(. Still trying to get used to reading on this darn digital device…but finding I prefer actual pages in my hands and a real sense of accomplishment from turning those pages! I keep hearing wonderful things about Robinson’s books, so maybe when the time is right (whenever that may be) I’ll give Home or Gilead a go. Thanks for your book reviews!

Maybe this is the sort of book that’s best read in a real book version? I don’t know… it seems like MR would like that. ;) But I feel your pain! And I definitely agree with you about the sense of accomplishment of turning pages. :)

I’m so curious to know what you think of all of those, Karen! I am stuck in Five Days at Memorial right now… need to get back into it and get unstuck. It’s very dense, detailed, and sad, and I also didn’t watch the news during that time (no TV) so I have very few mental images to pin all these events on. I think photos would help!

I loved Gilead, and I think it came at a perfect time in my life. But I can see how it might be a bit slow-paced for some. It reminds me of Wendell Berry’s books. I just read Lila and loved it. And I’m rereading Housekeeping and discovering that it is much different than I thought the first time I read it. I think Lila might be my favorite, but I haven’t read Gilead or Home in a long time. I read this article on Marilynne Robinson, and it made me appreciate her even more: http://www.christianitytoday.com/women/2014/november/marilynne-robinson-calvinist-on-bestseller-list.html

Yes, or stage of life! I am convinced stage of life has a lot to do with enjoying certain books, and it seems like Robinson’s writing especially needs a season of thoughtfulness or savoring or thinking to really enjoy it.